The Demographics of the Arts and Cultural Workforce in Los ... · DataArts - The Demographics of...

The Demographics of the Arts and Cultural Workforce

in Los Angeles County

April 2017

Commissioned by

DataArts - The Demographics of the Arts and Cultural Workforce in Los Angeles County 2

TABLE OF CONTENTS

INTRODUCTION ............................................................................................................................................. 5

SUMMARY FINDINGS .................................................................................................................................... 6

Study Sample and Methodology ............................................................................................................... 7

Limitations of the Study ............................................................................................................................ 8

LOS ANGELES COUNTY ARTS AND CULTURAL WORKFORCE DEMOGRAPHICS ........................................... 10

Geography ............................................................................................................................................... 10

Heritage, Ethnicity, and Race .................................................................................................................. 13

Heritage: Detailed categories ............................................................................................................. 17

Ethnic Identify Self-Descriptions ......................................................................................................... 20

Heritage, Ethnicity, and Race in Context ............................................................................................ 21

Age .......................................................................................................................................................... 25

Gender .................................................................................................................................................... 29

Disability .................................................................................................................................................. 31

LGBTQ Identity ........................................................................................................................................ 33

IMPLICATIONS AND DIRECTIONS FORWARD .............................................................................................. 35

Appendix: Diversity of Ethnicity Responses ................................................................................................ 37


TABLE OF FIGURES

Figure 1: Location, type, and budget of participating organizations .......................................................... 10 Figure 2: Location, type, and budget of participating organizations, detail ............................................... 11 Figure 3: Location of survey respondents’ primary residence, detail......................................................... 12 Figure 4: Race and ethnicity of the LA County arts and culture workforce ................................................ 14 Figure 5: Race and Ethnicity: Arts and culture workforce compared to the total LA County population .. 15 Figure 6: Detailed heritage: “Hispanic/Latino” or “Person of Latin American descent” ............................ 18 Figure 7: Detailed heritage: “Asian” ........................................................................................................... 18 Figure 8: Detailed heritage: “Black” or “Person of African descent” .......................................................... 18 Figure 9: Detailed heritage: “White” or “Person of European descent” .................................................... 19 Figure 10: Self-descriptions for identity ethnicity....................................................................................... 20 Figure 11: Race and ethnicity by role .......................................................................................................... 21 Figure 12: Race and ethnicity by age .......................................................................................................... 22 Figure 13: Race and ethnicity by organization type .................................................................................... 23 Figure 14: Ethnicity identity by organization budget size ........................................................................... 24 Figure 15: Age, arts and culture workforce by generation, compared to the LA County population ........ 26 Figure 16: Age, arts and culture workforce compared with Los Angeles County civilian workforce ......... 26 Figure 17: Age by role ................................................................................................................................. 27 Figure 18: Age by organization budget size ................................................................................................ 27 Figure 19: Age by organization type ........................................................................................................... 28 Figure 20: Gender, arts and culture workforce .......................................................................................... 29 Figure 21: Gender by role ........................................................................................................................... 30 Figure 22: Arts and culture workforce disability status compared to the Los Angeles County population 31 Figure 23: Disability by type ........................................................................................................................ 31 Figure 24: Disability status by role .............................................................................................................. 32 Figure 25: LGBTQ Identity ........................................................................................................................... 33 Figure 26: LGBTQ identity by role ............................................................................................................... 34 Figure 27: LGBTQ identity by gender .......................................................................................................... 34 Figure 28: Full range of heritage identifications by survey respondents ................................................... 37 Figure 29: More than one ethnicity, details ............................................................................................... 39


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INTRODUCTION In November 2015, the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors adopted a motion with a stated goal of improving “diversity in cultural organizations, in the areas of their leadership, staffing, programming and audience.” This action set the stage for the Los Angeles County Arts Commission (LACAC) to contribute to a greater understanding of the current makeup of the nonprofit cultural workforce in terms of race, heritage, gender, sexual identity, and disability status. Many arts and cultural leaders are seeking to understand to what degree people involved with their organizations “look like” the communities in which they are located. What are the best methods to improve access to arts and cultural resources for underserved communities?1 At this time, much of the conversation is focused on efforts to pose the right questions,2 identify the right metrics, and develop ways to count and collect demographic information.3

This study analyzes the demographics of the arts and cultural workforce in Los Angeles County – specifically, staff members, board, volunteers, and independent contractors associated with 386 cultural nonprofits, most of which receive funding from LACAC and/or seven other municipal funders in the County: Culver City Cultural Affairs Division, Arts Council of Long Beach, City of Los Angeles Department of Cultural Affairs, Pasadena Cultural Affairs, City of Santa Clarita Arts Commission, Santa Monica Cultural Affairs Division, and City of West Hollywood.

This report, the first in a multi-year series commissioned by LACAC and conducted by DataArts, reflects the responses of 3,307 individuals. These findings will inform arts managers, boards, funders, patrons, policy makers, and the wider Los Angeles community about who is serving in these important community institutions. The data offer a baseline against which change may be measured over time.

While Los Angeles County faces distinct demographic changes that present a unique set of opportunities and challenges, many of the issues faced by its cultural nonprofits – and the approaches they develop in response – can be illustrative for the broader national arts and culture sector and the nonprofit community writ large. If organizational effectiveness rests on the quality and characteristics of the people charged with advancing these important missions, then we must begin with an understanding of the nature of the workforce. This report strives to provide a thoughtful starting point and catalyst for what promises to be an ongoing and important exploration of the aspects and impacts of identity in the cultural workplace.

1 Ron Chew, “Embracing Diversity in the Arts: Random Reflections on the Coming Tide of Change,” GIA Reader, Vol 22, No 3 (Fall 2011). 2 Zannie Giraud Voss, et. al., National Center for Arts Research: Does “Strong and Effective” Look Different for Culturally Specific Arts Organization?, January 2016. 3 Mina Para Matlon, Ingrid Van Haastrecht, and Kaitlyn Wittig Menguc, Figuring the Plural: Needs and Supports of Canadian and US Ethnocultural Arts Organizations, 2014.


SUMMARY FINDINGS The arts and cultural workforce is significantly more homogenous than Los Angeles County’s population. Depending on how the data are aggregated, as much as 60% of arts and culture workers identify as White non-Hispanic versus a county population that reports as 27% White.

General staff are more racially and ethnically diverse than any other category in the workforce. Boards of directors are the least diverse.

Younger generations in the arts and cultural workforce are more racially and ethnically diverse than older generations. While 69% of Baby Boomers identify as White non-Hispanic, 55% of members of Generation X are White non-Hispanic, and fewer than half (43%) of Millennials identify as White non-Hispanic.

Community organizations are the most racially and ethnically diverse, and also have the largest share of Hispanic/Latino(a) workers. 37% of respondents from those organizations identify as White-non Hispanic, compared to 60% of the overall arts and culture workforce.

Mid-size organizations – those with annual budgets between $500,000 and $10 million – are more diverse in terms of race and ethnicity compared to both larger and smaller organizations. These mid-sized organizations are also the ones with the largest share of younger workers.

The Los Angeles County arts and cultural workforce is slightly older when compared to the age of Los Angeles County’s population as a whole. Well over half (59%) of survey respondents are members of either the Baby Boomer generation or Generation X, compared to 43% of the Los Angeles County population.4

Arts and cultural nonprofits in Los Angeles County are powered by female workers who represent 60% of the workforce compared to 51% of the County population as a whole. While women hold 64% of the general staff positions, their representation declines among the ranks of organizational leadership, where they comprise 57% of senior staff and 51% of the board member/trustee positions.

Ten percent (10%) of the cultural workforce identifies as disabled, which is slightly higher than the percentage identifying as disabled in the general Los Angeles County population.

The LGBTQ community appears to be well represented in the arts and cultural workforce. Sixteen percent (16%) of respondents identify as Lesbian, Gay, Bi-Sexual, Transgender, or Queer.

4 See page 24 for a detailed description of age cohorts by generation.


Study Sample and Methodology

Demographic findings presented in this report are based on 3,307 unique responses to the DataArts Workforce Demographics survey, conducted from May 2016 through July 2016. Respondents were affiliated with 386 arts and cultural organizations in Los Angeles County (380 of which had completed at least one DataArts Cultural Data Profile). Of these, 158 organizations had five or more persons responding and 94 had 10 or more responses. Participants were members of these organizations’ staff, boards, and volunteer corps,or were paid independent contractors, often including artistic personnel. Responses from individuals who only identified themselves as “attendees” were removed, leaving 3,175 unique responses.5

The DataArts Workforce Demographics survey collects data on five aspects of identity:

• Heritage (race, ethnicity, and nation of origin) • Age • Gender • Disability • LGBTQ Identity

The DataArts survey aims to ensure that all participants can “see themselves” in the options provided and do not feel excluded by the choices. To that end, it offers respondents a broad range of options for self-identification as well as the opportunity to write in an identifier. At the same time, it ensures that data collected can be meaningfully compared to benchmark demographics data, including the US Census. (The exception is LGBTQ identity, which is not collected by the Census.) Demographic findings for the Los Angeles County nonprofit arts and cultural workforce are compared to the 2014 American Community Survey (ACS) five-year data profiles, 2010-2014, throughout this report.

In building this Workforce Demographics survey, DataArts included broader options for participants to identify in regard to both gender and sexual identity. The current survey allows respondents to write in an identifier of their choosing if the options provided are insufficient. Asking for zip code of residence allows DataArts to associate other demographic characteristics (such as educational attainment and household income) with responses, by using Census and other available datasets.

Survey questions are included in the appendix to the online version of this report and a demonstration survey may be viewed at www.culturaldata.org/demographicslandingdemo.

The processes used for collection, storage, and analysis of data from the survey ensure the anonymity of respondents. Potential respondents received a web link via email either directly from LACAC or from an organization with which they were affiliated. Cookies prevented respondents from taking the survey more than once. Activating the link would take respondents directly to the Workforce Demographics survey, which required about five minutes to complete. Data from the surveys were not transmitted to

5 Each respondent, and persons overall, can hold more than one of the 180,848 possible board, staff, employee or volunteer positions reported by the organizations in LA County. Because of this, to calculate statistical significance, “position held” by respondents was analyzed, for a total of 4,186 positions. With a sample of this size, the confidence levels of >99% were calculated, with margin of error of 1.6% for overall (not cross-tabulated) responses.

http://www.culturaldata.org/demographicslandingdemo


LACAC or participating organizations; data were instead stored in a secure third-party survey data system accessible only to DataArts. The survey did not collect any personally identifying information, such as name, postal, or email address. Data analysis was conducted by DataArts in-house research staff.

Pilot testing feedback indicated a preference for the DataArts methodology in which the information is individually and confidentially reported and aggregated rather than centrally collected by organizational human resource professionals. In addition, responses to the questions are voluntary and “declined to state” is always an option for any respondent.

The 2016 Los Angeles County Arts Commission (LACAC) survey was the first in what is anticipated to be a multi-year study, in which data will be collected annually for up to five years. Change will be monitored over time using the 2016 study as a baseline for comparison. It is to be expected that the quality and quantity of the data will improve in subsequent years as more individuals from more organizations participate.

Participation rates were strong enough to allow for subset analysis across the aggregate workforce. Variances in participation by workers associated with different arts and culture entities, however, mean there is not currently sufficient response to allow for analysis at the individual organizational level, except for a small number of cases.

2016 was the first year for this study and offered many lessons. The survey was conducted during a period of a growing recognition of the need for greater cultural equity and inclusion for all, in a time simultaneously challenged by heightened racial and ethnic tension. These developments underscore the importance of fact-based understanding of the demographics and complex identities of various communities. Moving forward, and with sufficient leadership from within the cultural community, DataArts anticipates increased voluntary participation in follow up studies as the arts workforce begins to see the value and impact of reports such as this. The hope is that these findings will inspire all arts and culture organizations in Los Angeles County to reflect and take action on their individual workforce issues.

Limitations of the Study Understanding demographics and reporting on them accurately and with sensitivity can be challenging. There are limits on the level of accuracy that any study such as this one can achieve.

One of the main differences between the US Census and DataArts approach is that the Census does not identify “Hispanic or Latino(a)” as a race. When responding to the Census, one must select a categorization for race (White, Black, etc.) and then may also select that one is of Hispanic origin. 6

6 The Census is expected to revise how it reports on Hispanic Latino(a) in the future. From August 8, 2012 Media Advisory from US Census: “2010 Census Race and Hispanic Origin Alternative Questionnaire Experiment (AQE) focuses on improving the race and Hispanic origin questions by testing a number of different questionnaire design strategies. [It is] the largest effort ever to start off the decennial cycle for race and Hispanic origin research, and this important research is part of the Census Bureau's planning for the 2020 Census.” See also D’Vera Cohn, “Census considers new approach to asking about race – by not using the term at all,” Pew Research Center Fact Tank, June 18, 2015 and Ana Gonzalez-Barrera and Mark Hugo Lopez, “Is being Hispanic a matter of race, ethnicity or both?” Pew Research Center Fact Tank, June 15, 2015.


Although the Census categorization system is not seen as ideal by many, ensuring that DataArts’ data can be mapped to Census categories allows for accurate comparisons. To do so, DataArts has built formulas that map all combinations of responses to the categories used by the Census to automatically transform responses. In fact, there are two different sets of formulas – one to transform responses in the DataArts survey to “standard” Census race and ethnicity categories, where “Hispanic/Latina(o)” is not reported as a race and another set to transform responses in the DataArts survey to the alternate Census categorizations which do count “Hispanic/Latina(o)” as such.

Further, some important data collected by DataArts’ surveys, such as LGBTQ identification, “non-binary” gender options, and staff level (senior staff, staff), are not collected by the agencies that are commonly relied on to provide comparable population data, such as the US Census and the Bureau of Labor Statistics. As a result, comparable data on the general population are not available.


LOS ANGELES COUNTY ARTS AND CULTURAL WORKFORCE DEMOGRAPHICS Geography The arts and culture workforce is heavily concentrated, in terms of workplace location, in the City of Los Angeles. Figure 1 shows the locations, types, and budget size of all participating organizations in the study. Figure 2 provides a close-up of the area of the County with the greatest concentration of arts and culture organizations whose workforce responded to the survey. Figure 3 zooms in on the same area, showing the concentration of where the respondent workforce lives, by zip code.

Figure 1: Location, type, and budget of participating organizations


Map detail:

Figure 2: Location, type, and budget of participating organizations, detail


Figure 3: Location of survey respondents’ primary residence, detail


Heritage, Ethnicity, and Race The arts and cultural workforce is significantly more homogenous than Los Angeles County’s population. Depending on how the data are aggregated, as much as 60% of arts and culture workers identify as White non-Hispanic versus a county population that reports as 27% White.

Measuring race and ethnicity is both extraordinarily fraught and complex. How people describe themselves matters a great deal to them and many seek to be clear about the nuance of their racial and ethnic identity, the terms that are employed, and the groups with which they associate. This creates pressure to ensure that the data collection instrument offers the widest possible range of options for self-description. At the same time, race and ethnicity have been collected by the Census Bureau in very specific ways that have changed over the decades, yet are still fairly streamlined: Census categories are limited in number and broadly descriptive.

DataArts has built the race and ethnicity categories in its workforce survey to allow for both greater nuance and for comparison to standardized national data. While DataArts employs more categories than the US Census, it uses a data mapping schema that aggregates and ties responses back to the race and ethnic groupings employed by the Census. In order to be able to make comparisons to the population at large, however, it is necessary to aggregate groupings and categories in a way that reduces the nuance and specificity. These two different approaches to measuring race and ethnicity can give very different results.

To provide the greatest clarity, the results of this survey are presented here in both ways.

Data from the demographic survey using the DataArts method (Figure 4) show 58% of the arts and cultural workforce identifies as White non-Hispanic, 9% identifies as More Than One Race or Ethnicity, 3% identifies as Black/African American, 10% identifies as Asian, 9% identifies as Hispanic/Latino(a), and 0.4% identifies as Indigenous.


* for Census and ACS figures, this is shown as "White/Caucasian" ** for Census and ACS figures, this is shown as "Black/African American"

Figure 4: Race and ethnicity of the LA County arts and culture workforce

As Figure 5 shows, when the DataArts survey responses are refigured to allow comparison to Census data on the population of LA County as a whole, the results are slightly different, but it remains clear that the arts and culture workforce in LA County is significantly more racially and ethnically homogenous than the County population as a whole.

(See the Explanatory Note on page 15 for more details about how and why this is done.)

58%

4%

10%

9%

1% 0% 9%

1% 2%

5%

Race and Ethnicity DataArts Categories

White (non-Hispanic)*

Black**

Asian

Hispanic/Latino(a)

Middle Eastern

Indigenous

More than one race or ethnicity

Not listed/Other

Decline to state

No Response


Legend & Counts

Ethnicity-Census Hispanic as a Race

LA County Arts & Culture Workforce (N)

Ethnicity - Census Hispanic as a Race

LA County Total Population (N)

Some Other Race 31 24,807 No Response 168 NA Decline to state 62 NA Other* 14 42,128 Two or more races 127 215,647 Hispanic 434 4,800,491 Asian 322 1,377,333 Black/African American 118 802,132 White/Caucasian 1,899 2,711,665

Grand Total 3,175 9,974,203 Other*: American Indian or Alaska Native or Native Hawaiian or Other Pacific Islander

Figure 5: Race and Ethnicity: Arts and culture workforce compared to the total LA County population

60%

27%

4%

8%

10%

14%

14%

48%

4%

2%

0%

0%

2% 5%

1% 0%

Race and Ethnicity: Census Categories (Hispanic as a Race)

Arts and Culture Workforce LA County Population


Explanatory Note on the Complexity of Measuring Race and Ethnicity

The US Census does not treat the Hispanic category as a race. Instead, the Census asks respondents to report their race (“Black,” “White,” etc.) and then indicate whether they are Hispanic/Latino(a) or not. As a result, many people who choose to affiliate as “Hispanic” have also affiliated as “White.” Reports that show Latinos as making up 48% of the LA County population treat everyone who marks themselves as Hispanic/Latino(a) in that category and removes them from the race category they selected. The result is that this undercounts the number of people who are counted in “more than one race or ethnicity” and “other” as it counts many of them as Hispanic. For example, a person who selected both Black/African American and Hispanic/Latino(a) will be counted in those charts as “Hispanic/Latino(a)” only. That said, there is no better option if we wish to both use US Census data and treat “Hispanic/Latino(a)” as a distinct category.

The limitation of this method is that many people would prefer to see themselves represented in the data for all the groups they select. For example, when someone says he is “White” and “Black,” he may prefer to be counted in each of those groups, as opposed to in a group called, “More than one race/ethnicity.” For that person, the “More than one race/ethnicity” category may not convey his ethnicity appropriately.

Given these issues and limitations, this study presents the data on race and ethnicity in both ways, allowing people to “see themselves” in the more precise DataArts data but also allowing us to compare the arts and culture workforce to the total population using Census categories. The first chart, “Ethnicity - DataArts” (Figure 4) is the DataArts taxonomy, showing “Hispanic/Latino(a)” and “Middle-Eastern” as distinct groups along with “White,” “Black/African American,” “Asian,” “Indigenous,” “More than one race or ethnicity,” “Not listed/Other,” “Decline to state,” and “No Response.” In this chart, anyone who selected both “Hispanic” and “Black” is counted in “More than one race or ethnicity.” This breakdown cannot be directly compared to Census data.

The second chart, “Ethnicity - Census (Hispanic as a Race) - Arts and Cultural Organizations” (Figure 5) shows the survey responses mapped into US Census race/ethnicity categories and treats “Hispanic/Latino(a)” as a race – removing those who affiliate as “Hispanic/Latino(a)” from their other ethnicity selections, as noted above. Figure 5 also shows how raw Census data were re-interpreted for Los Angeles County in the same way.

On datasets for comparisons: throughout this report, data from the US Census 2010-2014 American Community Survey (ACS) 5-year estimates are used to make comparisons from data collected in the DataArts survey to the population of Los Angeles County. Using this dataset allows comparison with recently updated data, as opposed to the 2010 decennial Census figures, which are decidedly older. In addition, the 5-year estimates allow comparisons with all geographies in Los Angeles County, as opposed to ACS 2014 or ACS 2015 1-year estimates, which are only available for areas with populations over 65,000.7 As such, the 2010-2014 ACS 5-year estmates provide an appropriate balance of current data with precision for geographic analysis appropriate for this study.

7 For more information, please see US Census, “When to Use 1-year, 3-year, or 5-year Estimates: http://www.census.gov/programs-surveys/acs/guidance/estimates.html, retrieved January 23, 2017.

http://www.census.gov/programs-surveys/acs/guidance/estimates.html


Heritage: Detailed categories As noted, the DataArts survey aims to ensure that all participants can “see themselves” in the choices provided for respondents to identify their identity, which are then mapped to the aggregate. Responses are tied back to the race and ethnic groupings, including those employed by the Census. On the DataArts survey, respondents may choice one or more of the following:

• Person of African descent • Person of Asian descent • Black • Person of European descent • Hispanic/Latino(a) • Indigenous person

• Person of Latin American descent • Person of Middle Eastern descent • White • My ethnic identity is not listed here • I decline to state

Respondents also can write in their preferred identification, alone or in combination with the above. In addition to selecting broad categories for race and ethnicity, demographic survey respondents can then provide additional detail about their own identity. In particular, if a respondent selected one of the following categories, then an additional question would appear:

• Person of African descent • Person of Asian descent • Person of European descent • Person of Latin American descent

The additional question allowed the respondent to select one or more specific, more detailed categorizations. For example, if the respondent selected “Person of African descent,” she would be asked to “Select the region(s) of your ancestry”:

• Eastern • Middle • Northern • Southern • Western

In most cases, the detailed categorizations used are derived from a standard classification of nations and nationalities developed and published by the United Nations.8

Figures 6-9 below show the detailed categorization selections provided by survey respondents. Each pie chart is sized relative to its share of all respondents. In the tables, the number that provided additional detail may be less than the total number what selected that category.

8 United Nations, “Composition of macro geographical (continental) regions, geographical sub-regions, and selected economic and other groupings,” retrieved on December 19, 2016 http://unstats.un.org/unsd/ methods/m49/m49regin.htm#americas. The exception to this are the detailed categorizations of Indigenous, which were based on US Census and Statistics Canada categories: Alaskan Native, American Indian, Australian Aborigine, First Nations of Canada, Native Hawaiian, Pacific Islander.

http://unstats.un.org/unsd/%20methods/m49/m49regin.htm#americas

http://unstats.un.org/unsd/%20methods/m49/m49regin.htm#americas


Hispanic/ Latino(a)

55%

Person of Latin

American descent

24%

Both 21%

Black only 57%

Person of African descent

only 25%

Both 18%

Respondents choosing “Hispanic/Latino(a)” or “Person of Latin American descent” and classified in the survey findings as Hispanic/Latino(a):

Figure 6: Detailed heritage: “Hispanic/Latino” or “Person of Latin American descent”

Respondents choosing “Asian”:

Figure 7: Detailed heritage: “Asian”

Respondents choosing “Black” or “Person of African descent” and classified in the survey findings as Black/African-American:

Figure 8: Detailed heritage: “Black” or “Person of African descent”

Respondents selecting "Person of Latin descent" could then select one or more of: Region N Mexico 91 Caribbean 11 Central America 24 South America 20

Respondents selecting “Person of Asian descent” could then select one or more of: Region N Central 8 Eastern 177 Southern 24 Southeastern 67

Respondents selecting "Person of African descent" could then select one or more of: Region N Eastern 3 Middle 2 Northern 1 Southern 6 Western 17

Asian 100%


White only 66%

Person of European descent

only 16%

Both 18%

Respondents choosing “White” or “Person of European descent” and classified in the survey findings as White (non-Hispanic):

Figure 9: Detailed heritage: “White” or “Person of European descent”

In addition, those respondents who are grouped in this report as having ”More than one ethnicity identity” are actually representative of 27 different smaller groupings that are unique combinations of race or ethnicity.

A chart showing all respondents in their full detailed breakout by DataArts categories can be found in the appendix.

Respondents selecting "Person of European descent" could then select one or more of: Region N Eastern 195 Northern 222 Southern 68 Western 275


Ethnic Identify Self-Descriptions The survey instrument used for this study was designed to allow for both fine-grained and summary analyses of responses. In addition to the check boxes described in the previous section where respondents self-identifed their heritage (“Asian,” Hispanic,” etc.), the survey also offered an open text option in which a respondent could provide a description of his or her ethnic identity in their own words. 827 respondents chose to add such a description. These are displayed in the word cloud below (Figure 10). The font size indicates the frequency with which the same words were used by multiple respondents, with larger fonts indicating greater frequency. “African American” and “American” were the two most frequently used descriptors.

Figure 10: Self-descriptions for identity ethnicity


Heritage, Ethnicity, and Race in Context General staff are more racially and ethnically diverse than any other category in the workforce. Boards of directors are the least diverse.

When viewed across the different organizational roles of respondents, there are some notable differences in race and ethnicity (Figure 11). Board members are more likely to identify as White non-Hispanic (68%) than are senior staff (64%), general staff (54%), or independent contractors (63%). Board Members are least likely to be Hispanic/Latino(a) (8%). One-third of respondents identifying as Black/African-American listed their role as a general staff member. Respondents identifying as more than one race or ethnic identity are most likely to fill independent contractor (6%) or general staff (5%) roles; they are least likely to be board members (3%).9

Figure 11: Race and ethnicity by role

9 In these charts, the total N for “No Response” and “Decline to State” are shown in the legend, while their percent of the total is combined in the chart, for readability. Where values are 2% or less, numbers are not shown.

63%

59%

53%

63%

68%

4%

3%

3%

5%

4%

8%

12%

10%

8%

10%

11%

10%

21%

10%

8%

6%

4%

5%

5%

3%

7%

10%

7%

6%

6%

IndependentContractor: 407

Volunteer: 865

Staff: 1,260

Senior Staff: 294

Board: 791

Race and Ethnicity by Role: Census Categories (Hispanic as a Race)

White/Caucasian: 2163 Black/African American: 132 Asian: 368Hispanic: 488 Two or more races: 157 Other*: 16Decline to state: 68 No Response: 192 Some Other Race: 33


Younger generations in the arts and cultural workforce are more racially and ethnically diverse than older generations.

Some of these differences are driven by variations in the age of respondents (Figure 12). Younger members of the arts and cultural workforce are less likely to identify as White non-Hispanic than their older colleagues. In fact, half of millennials (50%) chose an ethnicity identity other than White non-Hispanic while all other age categories are majority White non-Hispanic. Members of Generation X and Baby Boomers respectively identify as 58% and 69% White non-Hispanic. For the Greatest Generation, 8 out of 10 respondents identified as White non-Hispanic. Generation X and Baby Boomers are more likely to identify as Black/African American (4% for each group versus less than 1% for Silent and Greatest Generation) while Millennials join Generation X as more likely to identify as Asian (12% for each group).

Figure 12: Race and ethnicity by age

60%

56%

81%

69%

58%

43%

6%

4%

4%

4%

10%

9%

7%

12%

12%

6%

7%

13%

26%

4%

5%

7%

33%

15%

8%

8%

6%

7%

11%

No Response: 63

Decline to state: 9

Silent/GreatestGenerations: 380

Baby Boomers:1109

Generation X:1056

Millenials: 1000

Race and Ethnicity by Age: Census Categories (Hispanic as a Race)



Community organizations are the most racially and ethnically diverse, and also have the largest share of Hispanic/Latino(a) workers.

When looking across organization types (Figure 13), Community organizations, which provided 182 responses from 32 organizations, hold the greatest diversity in their workforce with just 37% of respondents identifying as White-non Hispanic. Respondents who identify as Black/African American are are more highly represented in Broadcast, Literary and Media Arts organizations as well as in Support and Advocacy organizations. Collecting, Curating and Exhibiting organizations have the fewest number of respondents identifying as Black/African American (less than 1%). Persons responding from Performing Arts organizations are more likely to identify as White non-Hispanic (66%) than survey respondents working in other disciplines.

Figure 13: Race and ethnicity by organization type10

10 DataArts discipline categories are as follows: Broadcast, Media and Literary Arts - working in print, sound, or visual media, including nonprofit broadcasters; spoken word, publishers, literary or poetry societies; film and video producers, and film theaters Community - providing arts and cultural programs to a specific community - including geographic, linguistic, ethnic, or religious communities Education - providing music, visual, and performing arts instruction, including schools, colleges, and universities; using arts as a primary instruction or therapy practice; lecture series Collecting, Curating and Exhibiting - creating exhibits or displaying visual arts, advancing or presenting science and the natural world, or preserving and presenting history and/or heritage, historical collections, or artifacts Performing Arts - performing dance, music, theater or performing or presenting work not described solely by one of these categories, including nonprofit venues and festivals Support and Advocacy - supporting the whole sector or organizations in a specific discipline or artists, generally not directly producing or presenting arts and cultural products

55%

37%

56%

52%

66%

56%

6%

7%

3%

4%

6%

12%

21%

9%

19%

7%

9%

16%

27%

20%

14%

10%

21%

3%

5%

4%

5%

4%

6%

5%

6%

10%

7%

Broadcast, Literary,Media Arts: 302

Community: 182

Education: 279

Collecting, Curating,Exhibiting: 622

Performing Arts:2,002

Support andAdvocacy: 230

Race and Ethnicity by Organization Type: Census Categories (Hispanic as a Race)

White/Caucasian: 2163 Black/African American: 132 Asian: 368Hispanic: 488 Two or more races: 157 Other*: 16


Mid-size organizations – those with annual budgets between $500,000 and $10 million – are more diverse in terms of race and ethnicity compared to both larger and smaller organizations.

When viewed through the lens of budget size (Figure 14), respondents from smaller organizations (189 organizations with budgets of less than $250,000), were in fact more likely to be White non-Hispanic than participants from larger organizations. However, organizations with budgets below $100,000 include more respondents who self-identify as Black/African American (5%) when compared to larger organizations. Those in the $1M to under $10M category have the smallest share of White non-Hispanic workers, and they reflect a larger portion of respondents identifying as Asian than do other size categories (16% vs 13% or less.)

Figure 14: Ethnicity identity by organization budget size

60%

70%

61%

53%

51%

63%

5%

3%

5%

4%

4%

3%

13%

6%

9%

8%

16%

8%

8%

8%

12%

23%

16%

14%

5%

5%

4%

4%

5%

4%

7%

7%

7%

6%

7%

8%

Under $100 K: 419

$100 K - $249 K: 554

$250 K - $499 K: 397

$500 K - $999 K: 366

$1 M - $9.9 M: 843

Over $10 M: 1,038

Race and Ethnicity by Budget Size: Census Categories (Hispanic as a Race)



Age The Los Angeles County arts and cultural workforce is slightly older when compared to the age of Los Angeles County’s population as a whole.

This report employs commonly used names for generational cohorts:

Cohort Name Birth Years Age at the Time of the Study Silent/Greatest Generation pre-1945 ages 71 and older at the time of the study Baby Boomers 1946-1964 ages 52-70 Generation X 1965-1981 ages 35-51 Millennials 1982-2000 ages 15-34

While age data were collected by year of birth and survey respondents did not select a “generation,” these groupings are well embedded within the lexicon of population studies and media reporting, and are used for ease of recognition.

Well over half (59%) of survey respondents are members of either the Baby Boomer generation or Generation X, in comparison to the wider Los Angeles population which is 50% Millennials. This holds true when looking at age in terms of ACS “Civilian in Labor Force” age breakdowns; 12% of cultural workforce respondents are aged 65 to 74 versus 4% of those in Los Angeles County workforce11 (Figure 16). General staff (not including senior staff) is 46% Millennials, which looks more like the Los Angeles County population as a whole (Figure 17).

Eleven percent (11%) of the workforce is from the Silent and Greatest Generation, as compared to 8% for the wider population, suggesting that arts and cultural organizations in Los Angeles County are providing significant opportunities for seniors. Analysis of data collected by DataArts has shown that in LA County, retirement benefits are not commonly provided by arts nonprofits.12 It may be that older people continue working because they cannot afford to retire.

Baby Boomers (ages 52-70) comprise the highest percentage of board members (48%) and second highest percentage of senior staffers (35%) (Figure 17).

Looking at age by type of organization (Figure 19), those working in Support and Advocacy organizations are more likely to be older, while Millennials can be found working in Broadcast, Literary, and Media Arts (43%) and Education organizations (36%). A large proportion of the Collecting, Curating, and Exhibiting workforce is comprised of respondents who were born before 1965 (21% Silent/Greatest and 36% Baby Boomers).

11 US Census’s ACS parses “Civilian labor force” statistics from “Armed forces.” (Census Table S0201) The former is the proper comparison for arts and cultural organizations, whose workforce is within the “civilian” category. 12 Bronwyn Mauldin, Benefits in Arts Nonprofits in LA County, January 2015, LA County Arts Commission.


28%

29%

30%

11%

Age, arts and culture workforce

No Response: 58

Decline to state: 7

Silent and GreatestGeneration: 334

Baby Boomers: 963

Generation X: 917

Millenials: 89650%

21%

21%

8%

Age, LA County population

Silent and GreatestGeneration:786,424

Baby Boomers:2,129,012

Generation X:2,120,177

Millenials:4,938,590

3% 8%

39%

16%

18%

12%

5%

Age, arts and culture workforce

Over 75: 147

65 - 74: 377

55 - 64: 580

45 - 54: 530

25 - 44: 1,241

20 - 24: 247

16 - 19: 100

3% 10%

47%

21%

14%

4%

Age, LA County "civilian labor force"

Over 75: 34,083

65 - 74: 188,728

55 - 64: 746,511

45 - 54: 1,107,083

25 - 44: 244,8326

20 - 24: 531,839

16 - 19: 144,124

Figure 15: Age, arts and culture workforce by generation, compared to the LA County population

While Census data on population can be parsed in terms of “Generation” categories, Census data on Civilian Labor Force cannot be parsed in this way. As such, we adapt the data on the arts and cultural workforce to match Census data on Civilian Labor Force. (See Figure 16, below)

Figure 16: Age, arts and culture workforce compared with Los Angeles County civilian workforce


Figure 17: Age by role

Figure 18: Age by organization budget size

28%

24%

46%

16%

7%

42%

20%

33%

44%

21%

26%

33%

19%

35%

48%

3%

20%

3%

21% 3%

Independent Contractor: 407

Volunteer: 865

Staff: 1,260

Senior Staff: 294

Board: 791

Age by Role

Millenials: 1,000 Generation X: 1,056

Baby Boomers: 1,109 Silent and Greatest Generation: 380

Decline to state: 9 No Response: 63

19%

20%

23%

41%

31%

23%

28%

30%

33%

22%

26%

25%

28%

31%

31%

22%

26%

31%

13%

9%

7%

4%

8%

14%

Under $100 K: 419

$100 K - $249 K: 554

$250 K - $499 K: 397

$500 K - $999 K: 366

$1 M - $9.9 M: 843

Over $10 M: 1,038

Age by Organization Budget Size





Figure 19: Age by organization type13

13 For a listing of organization types, please see page 22.

43%

36%

40%

19%

26%

20%

29%

32%

31%

21%

30%

40%

24%

25%

24%

36%

31%

33%

5%

4%

21%

11%

4%

Broadcast, Literary, Media Arts: 302

Community: 182

Education: 279

Collecting, Curating, Exhibiting: 622

Performing Arts: 2,002

Support and Advocacy: 230

Age by Organization Type





Gender Arts and cultural nonprofits in Los Angeles County are powered by female workers who represent 60% of the workforce compared to 51% of the County population as a whole.

In the aggregate, 60% of all respondents identify as female, 37% identify as male, and 1% identify as non-binary. In addition, 55% of the workforce that said they were artists identify as female. As with race and ethnicity, the DataArts survey offers an opportunity for respondents to describe their gender identity in their own words. Gender descriptors participants wrote in to better self-identify include, “Gender Queer,” “Transgender,” and “Gender Non-conforming.”

Gender diversity decreases among senior staff and board members (Figure 21). While 64% of general staff within arts and cultural organizations identifies as female, 57% of senior staff and 51% of board members identify as female. Within the Collecting, Curating, and Exhibiting organizations, women comprise 67% of the workforce. Looking at the ratio of men to women in organizations of different budget size, respondents from the largest organizations skewed more female (65% vs 33% male) while organizations with budgets below $250,000 are more evenly split in terms of gender.

Figure 20: Gender, arts and culture workforce

60%

37%

1%

Gender

No Response: 7

Decline to state: 32

Non-binary: 42

A Man: 1,184

A Woman: 1,910


Figure 21: Gender by role

58%

63%

64%

57%

51%

37%

34%

33%

39%

47%

3% Independent

Contractor: 407

Volunteer: 865

Staff: 1,260

Senior Staff: 294

Board: 791

Gender by Role

A Woman: 2,165 A Man: 1352 Non-binary: 54 Decline to state: 38 No Response: 8


77%

10%

12%

Disability, arts and culture workforce

No Response: 391

Person with adisability: 328

Person without adisability: 2,456

91%

9%

Disability, LA County population

Person with a disability:947,099

Person without adisability: 9,027,104

Disability

Ten percent (10%) of the cultural workforce identifies as disabled, which is slightly higher than the percentage identifying as disabled from Los Angeles County Population.

Figure 22: Arts and culture workforce disability status compared to the Los Angeles County population

Disability Specific - Top 3 Disabilities Selected N %

Person with a physical disability or mobility impairment 82 2.6%

Person with an emotional or behavioral disability 56 1.8%

Person with a learning disability 51 1.6%

Figure 23: Disability by type

When viewed by organizational role (Figure 24,) volunteers (12%) were most likely to report having a disability, while senior staff (9%) were least likely. When viewed in the context of organizational type, Support and Advocacy organizations are more likely than other organization types to have disabled persons among their workforce (14% versus 12% or less).

• Ten percent (10%) of board members reported having a disability. • Among the general staff population, 9% reported having a disability. • Ten percent (10%) of independent contractors reported having a disability.


Figure 24: Disability status by role

10%

12%

9%

9%

10%

73%

74%

79%

81%

79%

16%

13%

12%

10%

11%


Volunteer: 865

Staff Member: 1,260

Senior Staff Member: 294

Board Member: 791

Disability Status by Role

Person with a disability: 372 Person without a disability: 2,798 No Response: 447


LGBTQ Identity The LGBTQ community appears to be well represented in the arts and cultural workforce.

When asked about LGBTQ Identity, 16% of respondents answered that they identify as LGBTQ, while 81% of indicated that they did not.

Seventeen percent (17%) of volunteers identified as LGBTQ (Figure 26). Twenty-nine percent (29%) of respondents working in Broadcast, Literary, and Media Arts identify as LGBTQ compared to only 10% working in Community or Collecting, Curating, and Exhibiting organizations. A larger proportion of LGBTQ respondents tended to self-identify as artists (19% vs 12% of non-LGBTQ). Figure 27 shows that men in the arts and culture workforce are twice as likely to identify as LGBTQ as women.

Figure 25: LGBTQ Identity

16%

81%

3%

LGBTQ Identity

No Response: 13

Decline to state: 87

No: 2,571

Yes: 504


Figure 26: LGBTQ identity by role

Figure 27: LGBTQ identity by gender

19%

17%

17%

23%

10%

76%

80%

80%

73%

86%

5%

3%

4%

3%


Volunteer: 865

Staff Member: 1260

Senior Staff Member: 294

Board Member: 791

LGBTQ identity by role

Yes: 592 No: 2,911 Decline to state: 99 No Response: 15

79%

22%

11%

7%

76%

87%

14% Non-binary: 42

A Man: 1,240

A Woman: 1,985

LGBTQ identity by gender

Yes: 504 No: 2,571 Decline to state: 87 No Response: 13


IMPLICATIONS AND DIRECTIONS FORWARD Moving from Data to Action

The analysis presented in this report engenders key questions in the following areas:

Race and Ethnicity:

While this report analyzes many characteristics of the workforce “supply,” it has not examined the “demand” side of the equation—such as job descriptions, position requirements, training and educational opportunities, or pay scales—and this leaves a wide range of unknowns that affect workforce makeup. Important questions relevant to workforce demographics include: What percentage of positions are advertised as requiring a bachelor’s degree or higher? How many entry-level positions are advertised per year by the arts and cultural organizations that were part of the study? How frequently do positions turn over at the senior staff or board levels?

While answers to the latter two questions speak to how quickly change might take place across the arts and cultural community, the first question – regarding educational requirements – is key. Only 30% of the population of Los Angeles County aged 25 and over have a bachelor’s, graduate, or post-graduate degree and 59% of those persons are White non-Hispanic. This correlation between education and race is consistent with the population of the arts and cultural workforce but is out of line with the overall population, which is 27% White (non-Hispanic). How might arts and cultural organizations begin to close this gap? What kinds of innovating workforce pipelines can be built that begin in high school and extend into community colleges and four-year institutions?

In terms of board diversification, what characteristics are sought when recruiting institutional trustees and why? Not only are organizations searching for knowledge and expertise, but also for funding capacity, access to diverse networks, and passionate commitment to an arts and culture mission. What then are the implications for the recruitment of board members?

Age

At the board and senior staff level, those aged 52 and over (Baby Boomers and Silent/Greatest Generation) represent 69% of board members and 38% of senior staff and as such age is correlated to organizational role. While it is certainly understandable that organizations rely on years of service and experience, we have also seen that the younger age groupings (Generation X and Millennials) are more diverse by heritage and LGBTQ identity. These finding may spark a deeper examination of recruitment, professional development and advancement practices. They may also engender new thinking about how organizations might build pipelines to bring intergenerational perspectives forward in decision-making processes and leadership roles so that organizations may benefit from more diverse perspectives and networks.

Gender

A 2013 study of the workforce demographics in approximately 300 U.S art museums commissioned by the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation14 noted that museum staff has become progressively more female over the past decade or so, rising to 60%, while leadership roles (a range of C-level employees) are

14 Rover Schonfelt, Mariët Westermann and Liam Sweeney, Art Museum Staff Demographic Survey, July 28, 2015.


equally split between men and women. The Association of Art Museum Directors’ most recent report on gender equality for women,15 conducted in 2016, found that women held only 48% of art museum directorships, with far fewer women directing the largest museums. These studies have sparked intense discussion of gender and employment opportunities in the museum community.

This study of LA County cultural nonprofits, similarly found that the staff of cultural nonprofits is majority female, but those numbers decline for their representation among senior staff or boards. An opportunity for change and greater gender equality exists, therefore, as women are now poised and have the requisite training and experience for hiring or promotion into leadership roles as male Baby Boomers and Greatest Generation leaders retire. With males now representing just 35% of the general staff of arts organizations, however, the sector must continually assess who is entering the workforce pipeline, examine any barriers (such as lack of a living wage) that may be impeding entry, and adjust practices in order to achieve an equitable and inclusive workforce that reflects the gender balance of society writ large.

LGBTQ Identity

The United States is in the early days of documenting the incidence of LGBTQ identity in the workplace. The DataArts Survey includes questions on LGBTQ identity at the recommendation of a broad-based advisory group that contributed to the instrument’s development. The Census does not collect this information and there is wide disparity of practice and policy related to tracking this information across employers, states, and municipalities. Gallup, the public-opinion company, conducted the largest study of the distribution of the LGBTQ population to date in 2012. In interviews with 18,636 respondents in California, Gallup found that 4% of the California population responded “yes” to the question: “Do you, personally, identify as lesbian, gay, bisexual, or transgender?"16 As such, the rate of LGBTQ survey respondents in this study is about four times this baseline rate from the Gallup report. DataArts recommends further study of local or California state surveys that along with this study might help establish baselines against which change over time may be measured.

In conclusion, the arts and culture sector stands in a unique position, possessing the creativity to imagine alternative future scenarios; the means to amplify the voices of the unheard and those calling for change; and the ingenuity to create opportunities and venues for action. This report is an important first step in a complex process of self-discovery, providing a fact-based foundation for understanding where the sector stands today, in relation to the communities it seeks to serve, represent, or challenge.

15 Veronica Treviño et al., The Ongoing Gender Gap in Art Museum Directorships, March 2017, Association of Art Museum Directors. 16 Gary J. Gates and Frank Newport, “LGBT Percentage Highest in D.C., Lowest in North Dakota,” retrieved on December 19, 2016. http://www.gallup.com/poll/160517/lgbt-percentage-highest-lowest-north-dakota.aspx Gallup reports the nationwide average as 3.5% of the US population.

http://www.gallup.com/poll/160517/lgbt-percentage-highest-lowest-north-dakota.aspx


Appendix: Diversity of Ethnicity Responses The full diversity of the arts and cultural workforce of Los Angeles County (although it is a bit unwieldy) can be seen by looking at all of the different selections made by survey respondents:

Figure 28: Full range of heritage identifications by survey respondents


Seventy-six different selections by respondents: N


Figure 29: More than one ethnicity, details

Seventy-six different selections by respondents (con’t): N

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